Willie took the week off from food writing this week, possibly to work on pitching that TV show of his. Or possibly because he was fired for being on the take with Subway. (Hard to say really.) So, we're once again left with a lone Sunday column to keep us occupied with his take on Republican presidential debates, Jerry Brown's budget veto, some candidates for Mayor and (who could forget) P. Diddy.

In national politics, Willie decided the Republican debate was the best TV he's seen in awhile. Or the best TV that doesn't include the Kardashian family, anyway. Michelle Bachmann was his standout star of the debate, and if he latches on to her in the same way he's been following Sarah Palin... well, we'll have a lot of funny and possibly sexist Willie-isms about Michelle Bachman, we guess.

On a state level, Willie thinks the Calicrats put together a hasty budget just so they could keep their paychecks and avoid embarrassing themselves by farting around with the spending plan until the fall. As we saw this week, that didn't work out so well for lawmakers. There's not really a joke to be made in there. We just don't have a budget yet.

Turning his attention to the Mayor's race, Willie spotted a different sort of grassroots campaign for Ed Lee: a t-shirt with an outline of a round face with a mustache and glasses that read: "I'm an Ed Head." Great, not only are the astroturfers gaining traction, but now the Haight Street t-shirt mongers are getting in on the game.

For the first time in a while Da Mayor provides some decent insight on local politics this week. As he sees it, the ballot measure introduced this week that would stop demolition and halt the Parkmerced project was a good way for Supervisor Avalos to distinguish himself as the Tenants rights candidate in the mayoral election. The problem is the construction trade unions will lash out against it (and Avalos), but it'll still give them a chance to rough up David Chiu on his mixed record of tenants rights issues.

No movie reviews from Willie this week, but he did take in a Broadway show while in New York for a family reunion/father's day celebration. Da Grandfather went to see Chris Rock in The Motherfucker with the Hat. "The language," he says, "would have made Richard Pryor blush," but apparently it did phase him or Sean "Puffy" Combs. Willie sat behind the rap mogul and laughed for "a solid hour and a half."